Gizmodo
Mysterious fossil could be oldest known animal—if scientists can agree it is one
An international team of researchers is claiming to have discovered traces of cholesterol on a fossil of Dickinsonia—a mysterious creature that ...
Genetic Noah’s Ark intends to sequence DNA of 66,000 species
An international consortium involving over 50 institutions has announced an ambitious project to assemble high-quality genome sequences of all 66,000 ...
How crowdfunding is being used for ‘dubiuous, possibly dangerous’ alternative cancer treatments
It’s become a heartbreakingly common sight on the internet: People using crowdfunding sites to raise money for their expensive health ...
What do toddlers and chimpanzees have in common? They use the same unspoken language
Prior to developing the capacity for speech, toddlers communicate their desires, demands, and discontent using a diverse repertoire of physical ...
ALS patients more likely to have other mental, behavioral problems
Because ALS primarily affects a person’s motor neurons, it has been assumed that the disease spares a person’s mental faculties ...
White noise dangerous to your brain? There’s ‘reason to be skeptical’ of study
A recent research review suggests that white noise, the soothing, fuzzy soundtrack so many of us rely on to sleep ...
Opioid pain killer without risk of addiction? It may be possible
The ultimate goal of pain medicine—a powerful painkiller with few to no side effects, such as dependence or overdose—is still ...
Why is ‘party drug’ ketamine such a powerful treatment for depression?
In recent years, the party drug and anesthetic ketamine has been embraced as a rapidly-acting, if still off-label, medication for ...
23andMe study probes links between cannabis use and schizophrenia
There’s evidence of a connection between cannabis use and schizophrenia, but it’s unclear whether the drug leads to the disorder, ...
Robots could help autistic children communicate more effectively
As excited or terrified as we might be by the latest advances in robot technology, they’re still far from being ...
Put down the glass of wine: There’s ‘no such thing’ as safe alcohol consumption
You don’t have to go far to find people, including doctors and researchers, who will argue that a little bit of ...
Simulating near-death experiences with hallucinogenic drug DMT
Not everyone who is close to death—or thinks they are, at least—has a “near-death experience.” But those who do often ...
Is it possible for tired people to ‘spread’ their misery to others?
[A] new study out of the University of California, Berkeley suggests that poor sleep can be a nightmare for our social lives ...
Ancient genetic oddity makes whales and other aquatic mammals deadly susceptible to common pesticides
Over the past 50 million years, a group of small, hoofed mammals gradually evolved into today’s whales and dolphins. In ...
‘Stuck on the spin cycle’: Probiotic supplements linked to ‘brain fog’
Given their current popularity, you might assume that probiotics—capsules containing a mix of “good” bacteria that are said to rebalance ...
Ancient worms resurrected after spending more than 32,000 years on ice
A team of Russian scientists is lining themselves up to be the opening cast of a John Carpenter film. Earlier ...
Genetic data share: 23andMe partners with drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline
23andMe customers might just play a role in helping create one of Big Pharma’s next blockbuster drugs. On [July 25, ...
Could beef jerky trigger manic episodes for some people?
There is no singular cause of mental illness. Any number of things—our genes, environment, and even social mores—play a role in ...
Machines that decide ‘who lives and who dies’? AI community pledges never to build them
Hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals, many of them researchers and engineers prominent in the fields of robotics and ...
Why our earliest memories are often imagined
If life is but a tapestry, then memory is the thread. But some of those threads may simply be imagined: ...
Cancer drug duo could lengthen life, boost elderly immune system
Drugs that can lengthen life have long been a hallmark of speculative science fiction—many hope for an invention that could ...
No longer a fringe theory? Herpes virus can spark ‘cascade of events’ leading to Alzheimer’s
For decades, the idea that a bacteria or virus could help cause Alzheimer’s disease was dismissed as a fringe theory ...
Search for alien life gets boost from new NASA project
The ability to detect life on distant worlds still eludes us, but a new project coordinated by NASA now takes ...
Synthetic ‘skin’ could return pain sensations to users of prosthetic limbs
Current prosthetic limbs aren’t yet capable of transmitting complex sensations like texture or pain to the user, but a recent ...
Giant panda discovery: DNA from 22,000-year-old skull suggests unknown lineage in China
DNA from a 22,000-year-old fossilized panda skull suggests an entirely separate lineage of giant pandas once roamed the area that ...
This legal squabble is challenging the way we handle DNA ownership
Toronto businessman Harold Peerenboom and Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter were locked in an absurd suburban skirmish, bickering over ...
Rethinking the search for alien life: Let’s look for their space junk
SETI enthusiasts have devised all sorts of complicated ways for us to find signs of alien life, but a new ...
